by Mike Adams

the Health Ranger

November 28, 2010
from NaturalNews Website

 

 

 

We've been covering the soft drink industry lately, publishing articles on soda pop marketing to children that seem so bizarre, many people are simply unable to believe them.

 

So for this article, I've quoted numerous sources to allow everyone to verify the "unbelievable" facts of this story for themselves.

This story concerns the fact that the PepsiCo company began branding plastic baby bottles with soft drink logos in the 1990's, hoping that parents would begin feeding their infants and babies soft drinks such as Pepsi and Mountain Dew.

Once again, many people find this very difficult to believe and they think we're just making this up. But of course, we're not: Check out the February 1, 1996 issue of Pediatrics for Parents which contains the following published report:

Soft drink manufacturers are now putting their logos on baby bottles.

 

The logos of many carbonated drinks,

  • Pepsi, diet and regular

  • 7 Up: Dr. Pepper

  • Orange Slice

  • Mountain Dew,

...non-carbonated drinks,

  • Kool-Aid,

...and juice drinks,

  • Mott's

  • Welch's

  • Very Fine

  • V8

  • Perrier,

...can be seen on plastic baby bottles.

Health experts are concerned over this trend.

 

They fear that parents will be encouraged to give their babies inappropriate beverages in their baby bottles. In a study of 314 California mothers, almost a third admitted to giving their baby's either soft drinks or Kool-Aid. Over half had baby bottles with soda, Kool-Aid, or juice logos.

You can see this citation below:

 

Giving the wrong message

Soda logos on plastic baby bottles
by Pediatrics for Parents
February 1, 1996

from HighBeam Website

Developing brand loyalty starts early. Soft drink manufacturers are now putting their logos on baby bottles. The logos of many carbonated drinks (Pepsi, diet and regular; 7 Up: Dr. Pepper; Orange Slice: and Mountain Dew), non-carbonated drinks (Kool-Aid), and juice drinks (Mott's; Welch's; Very Fine; V8; and Perrier) can be seen on plastic baby bottles.

Health experts are concerned over this trend.

 

They fear that parents will be encouraged to give their babies inappropriate beverages in their baby bottles. In a study of 314 California mothers, almost a third admitted to giving their baby's either soft drinks or Kool-Aid. Over half had baby bottles with soda, Kool-Aid, or juice logos.

What's wrong with these beverages?

 

Sodas have negligible nutritional value. Many contain caffeine, sometimes in very large amounts. Most are very sugary.

 

They are sweetened with sucrose, the sugar that is the most carcinogenic. If carbonated, they contain carbolic acid which can dissolve tooth enamel. Soft drinks and many juice drinks have minimal nutritional content.

 

All contain negligible amounts of the recommended daily requirements of vitamins, minerals, and protein.

A similar article appears in a October 27, 1994 article of the Austin America-Statesman, entitled Logos send bad message about soda baby bottles.

The Q&A article begins:

Question:

I recently noticed at the grocery store baby bottles that have been made to look like soft drink bottles. The bottles carry the name of a soda and its logo. I know babies can't read, but I'm concerned that somehow this encourages a habit that isn't good for youngsters.

Answer:

Your feelings on these bottles are right on target. Those baby bottles with the carbonated beverage logos might seem cute to some people, but the decorated bottles...

 

 


Soda pop industry has always promoted soft drinks for children in magazine ads


The soda pop industry, by the way, has always promoted soda pop for children in magazine ads.

 

Here's an ad from Canada Dry (a popular soda beverage a couple of generations ago) which says, The Special Sparkle is Canada Dry while showing a child chugging a bottle of soda.

Here's a partial image of a Tab soda ad featuring a young mom drinking a bottle of soda while her small child chugs one with her.


This Canada Dry ad from 1966 pushes their grapefruit flavored soda pop for cheerleaders.

You can see all sorts of bizarre ads from Coca-Cola on that same website (Magazine-Ads.com) including this one, showing a crowd of young male swimmers all trying to woo a sexy (in 1963, anyway) lifeguard.

For many years, the Coca-Cola company also borrowed the image of Santa Claus, depicting him drinking bottles of coke.


This Pepsi ad from 1970 shows young boys drinking the beverage, with a goofy "Pepsi's got a lot to give" headline, to boot.


We have additional ads in our Museum of Badvertising, including an ad showing Seven-Up being chugged by an infant and an ad for Camel cigarettes featuring conventional doctors who recommend smoking. Ads for Camel cigarettes, by the way, were featured for years in the Journal of the American Medical Association.


Some people insist that the soda companies never marketed their products to children. Many of the internet naysayers who dispute these stories are no doubt working for the P.R. companies of the soda industry, by the way. It's the same fraud pulled off by promoters of high-fructose corn syrup who try to discredit everybody who writes the truth about HFCS.

 

It's no coincidence that the dishonest soda industry uses HFCS from the dishonest corn syrup industry as its main ingredient...

At the same time, JAMA editors probably don't want to be reminded that their medical journal used to push cigarettes, either. But history is worth learning, even if it's hard to believe, because those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

And yes, it is a historical fact that the soda pop industry ran decades of ads promoting sodas for children.

 

Anyone who tries to deny that is a fraud.